Choose Your Weapon album – Hiatus Kaiyote

For geeky music fans who may possess a rudimentary grasp of chords, scales and rhythms, Choose Your Weapon is a revelation. The Australian quartet toy with tempos, switch melodies and hijack genres with scholarly precision.

It’s scary at times. Take Jekyll – it appears to be a conventional neo-soul outing until, two minutes into the track, Hiatus Kaiyote veer off on an Afrobeat detour before returning to the song’s balladry beginnings. It’s both beautiful and bonkers.

But this isn’t just smart music for cerebral folk. Oh no, there’s plenty of soul, passion and emotion here; the funk-infused By Fire is, for instance, teeming with poignant tenderness.

This LP is so far removed from the formulaic fare that clogs up the airwaves that it shines a light on just how lazy popular music has become. Choose Your Weapon fires on all cylinders and is a clear contender for album of the year.

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